Separated
by Red-Rayne
Summary: Riza Hawkeye is having a hard time adjusting to the team being split up Rating M because I'm not sure where this is going right now and I want to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey there guys! I recently just finished Brotherhood so this is based on that version; not the 2003. I have a lot of attachment to them after that so I decided to write this. **

Riza sighed as she closed the door to her apartment. Fuhrer Bradley had kept her at work until 11 that night. Being home didn't bring her much solace anyways; not with Pride's threat looming over her. She never felt safe anymore.

Black Hayate met her at the door, tail wagging and panting to show how excited he was to see her. She closed the door before leaning down to pat her companion on the head before heading toward the kitchen. She wanted nothing more than a nice hot cup of tea to calm the nerves some. She glanced at the clock to discover that it was a quarter to twelve. The lieutenant was grateful that her neighbor had a key to come check on the poor dog if she wasn't home at dinner time.

She set a kettle of water on the stove and sat down at her dining table. It has been about a month since she had been reassigned as the personal assistant to Fuhrer Bradley. Her entire team had been reassigned, save Colonel Mustang. Havoc was the only person who managed to escape this fate; having retired instead f getting an automail replacement for his now useless legs. He hadn't gone back home yet thankfully, he was still in the hospital in Central, making it easy for Riza to visit him when she needed to see someone from the team.

She still saw Mustang occasionally, they still both worked in the same building after all, but never for very long. She hoped the stubborn man was getting his work done at least, he had a bad habit of procrastinating. Riza sighed internally, she had no reason to be worried about her former commanding officer, he was a colonel for a reason.

Just as her kettle went off, she heard Hayate barking off in the other room. "Hayate! Quiet!" she scolded, "It's only the kettle." When he kept barking she got a bit worried, so she turned the stove off and went to see what he needed. By the time she got to him he seemed to be calm. It crossed her mind that he might need to go outside. She opened the door for him only to discover a single flower on the ground outside of her door, which she might not have noticed except for the small dog going over to it and sniffing it.

Upon her further inspection she discovered what kind of flower it was, a blue flower wit a yellow center that was only about a centimeter, it was unmistakably a Forget-me-not. When she looked back up from the flower she noticed that Hayate had gone back inside. She took the small flower back inside with her, going back to her kitchen to attend to her tea.

A few minutes later she sat down on her couch with her mug of tea and the flower, by now she had stripped of her heavy military jacket. Hayate joined her on the couch, curling up next to her and laying his head on her leg. Setting her cup down on the table, she scratched his ear absentmindedly. The flower brought back memories from an old covert mission she'd gone once, when she discovered that Roy was into flowers. She'd wished Roy had brought her this one, but the logical explanation for it was that someone was bringing home a bouquet of flowers home and one of these fell from the bunch of them. The fact that she even thought of Roy when she'd found this one shocked her. She missed him a lot more than she realized if she was fantasizing about that old mission.

Work was stressing her out so badly even her tea wasn't helping. Bradley was overworking her, maybe his plan was to work her to death. At this rate he might just succeed. She slowly finished her tea, enjoying the peace and quiet with her dog. When she finished her tea she got up and went to place it in the sink.

After changing into her pajamas she called for Hayate to come join her for bed. Normally she would never allow him to sleep on her bed, but between the stress and her new found paranoia in the dark she had started to allow him to. She curled up in her bed, with Hayate at her feet, and slowly drifted off to sleep with her mind in a million different places


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey so I'm actually pretty excited about this fanfiction and my girlfriend is back in school so I have extra time and I figured I'd write another chapter while I feel semi motivated.**

Riza awoke suddenly in a panic, caused by her dreams. The movement woke the sleeping dog that lay near her feet as well. His first response to was jump up and look around, he was proving to be such a good dog. "Shh Hayate, it was only me." She said quickly, reaching down to cautiously place her hand on his head. Still she couldn't help but look around to make sure nothing seemed wrong.

When she sat up she turned to see the time. It was about 5:30, about a half an hour before she normally would have gotten up for work. She decided there was no point in going back to sleep for the short period of time, opting to actually shower and eat like a normal person instead of in a rush. Perhaps a hot shower would help clear her mind and calm her down. At any rate it was worth a shot; it would be difficult to make things much worse anyways.

After a twenty minute shower the blonde returned to her room, sitting down on her bed before getting dressed. Since her team split up the only thing that kept her motivated at work was knowing that if she worked close to Bradley, it would be easier to know if Mustang was in danger. She'd made the promise to protect him until he became Fuhrer himself and she wasn't about to let years of work go down the drain all because a group of Homunculi ruin that. And she supposed Bradley really wasn't completely horrible. From time to time they'd have conversations, there was clearly a part of this man who cared about people somehow. He'd made it very clear his wife was a choice he made all on his own, and she could tell from his words he cared deeply for the woman.

Riza found herself sighing. She really needed to get ready for work now, if she wanted to eat and still be on time. After getting her uniform on, except her jacket, she went back out into the kitchen and looked through her fridge for something. It shocked her to find that she was virtually out of food. Thinking back she realized she hadn't been shopping much in the month since she had been reassigned. While she no longer needed to spend nights on end at work like she had to help keep the colonel up on his work, she was more stressed and felt busier. She hoped more than anything that something would happen soon, she hated working for a homunculus.

Riza set down Hayate's breakfast, making a mental note that she would have to go shopping soon anyway because he was running low on food as well, before grabbing her jacket and leaving early. If she couldn't eat at home nothing was stopping her from stopping by the coffee shop around the corner to grab some coffee and possibly something to eat. When they'd first transferred to Central she and Mustang had stopped there every morning before work. The owners were nice enough, a young couple around her age who had taken over the shop from the woman's parents. They worked there along with the woman's sister.

The walk to the shop was a pleasant one, not many people were out and about so early in the morning. The quiet streets gave her some peace of mind actually. When she arrived at the shop she found it empty, which she had expected. They didn't get their rush for about another hour. The brunette at the counter was clearly excited to see her.

"Why hello Miss Hawkeye! It's been a while, how are you doing? I hope everything is well." The woman said kindly, smiling brightly at her. Riza offered a small smile back.

"I'm good, thank you." She paused to look over the menu, "Could I just get a large coffee and whatever pastry you have fresh?" Riza asked, pulling her wallet out to pay for them. The woman merely nodded and went about preparing Riza's order.

Less than five minutes later she returned with Riza's order. She thanked her, handing the woman not only the payment but a generous tip. The blonde took her breakfast and sat down at a table facing away from the door, the last thing she wanted to think about was hurrying off to work.

After about five minutes the bell that was attached to the door rang, meaning someone had come into the shop. She paid the person no mind, they were usually slow but it wasn't uncommon for one or two people to wander in around this time of day. It wasn't until she heard the voice ordering that she turned.

"Yes I think I'll just have a coffee." The man said, loudly enough Riza knew he'd intended for her to hear him. She rolled her eyes at his tactics. He never was good about being forward.

"Good morning Colonel Mustang." She said, just loud enough for him to hear her. He turned his head to her immediately, the corners of his lips turned up just enough that it was hard to tell if he was full of himself or genuinely in a good mood.

"Morning Lieutenant." He greeted, turning back to the counter. It was no secret to either of them that this particular worker had a thing for him. Then again how many women, especially in Central, didn't have a weak spot for the great war hero? Riza could think of very few women who hadn't thrown themselves at Roy since they'd made the transfer. It was the one thing that she didn't miss about working with him, dealing with all the women.

Riza was wrapped up in these thoughts when the flame alchemist decided to sit across from her at her table, pulling her from them. She gave him a questioning look, she wondered if something was going wrong. He merely shrugged at her, "You don't mind, do you?" he asked. Riza replied with her own shrug.

She was honestly glad he was there, she hadn't really seen him much and it was good to be reassured that he was physically alright. "How's work going?" She asked, "I do hope you're keeping up on the paperwork by yourself."

"Of course I am." He said a bit too defensively. Riza knew he'd be behind. A month of no one to help him with it, there was no way he wouldn't be. "How are you liking your new position?" He asked her, his voice showed a hint of something, was it concern?

"It's different, that's for sure." She said honestly, "But working for Fuhrer Bradley isn't entirely bad. He's been as nice as people say." Riza knew they were alone minus the one worker but that didn't stop her from being cautious with her words. The last thing she needed was for an innocent accidental meeting to turn into a very bad idea.

He nodded, seeming to be at a loss for words. Riza couldn't think of anything to say either so they sat there in the quiet, drinking their coffee. The silence wasn't awkward though, they'd spent too much time together for silence to bother them. She felt more comfortable during the silence than she had all week, the familiar presence a nice change. She glanced over at the clock on the wall, noticing that it was about time for her to head out. She frowned slightly, not quite ready to leave her small bit of peace.

Reluctantly she got out of her seat, taking her plate back over to the counter and muttering another thank you to the woman at the counter. On her way out she paused next to the table she had been sitting at moments before.

"By the way, I found a flower outside my apartment yesterday." She said flatly, causing him to raise an eyebrow in question. "It was a forget-me-not." She told him before heading to work.


	3. Chapter 3

Riza's mind was in too many places at once. It was bad enough that she now felt the need to look out every second she was outside of work, but she no longer felt safe there either. Today though, it wasn't the constant need to remain vigilant that prevailed in her mind. All of her thoughts were swimming around and no matter how hard she tried she couldn't help but move from one to the next before anything resolved itself.

Before she knew it, her work day was over. Fuhrer Bradley had let her off a bit early that day too, giving her the opportune time to stop by a store and get some food for herself and Hayate. However when she got to the store she found that she didn't have much motivation and it turned into another blur for her. She returned home with a few bags at least, Hayate becoming extremely excited to see that she'd gotten more food for him. Riza chuckled at her companion's reaction.

She finished putting her groceries away before going to change into non work clothes. It was only about eight, so she had plenty of time for herself tonight. She sat down on her couch, trying to push work and the homunculi problem out of her mind. Riza wished that she had some sort of distraction but the only friend she could really talk to anymore without suspicion was Rebecca who was never around anymore. She sighed, things were tough but she had gotten through everything else leading up to this point, she would make it through this as well.

Just as her thoughts had begun to clear she was interrupted by a knock at the door. The Lieutenant froze immediately and her entire body went rigid. Her hand immediately went to her gun as she inched her way towards the door. She hesitated for a moment with her hand on the doorknob. For just a moment Riza thought about not answering the door, there was no proof she had come home yet anyways. What changed her mind was seeing Hayate run over to the door, tail wagging. He only got that excited about herself and one other person.

Riza opened her door quickly, confirming her suspicions. "Colonel what are you doing here?" she asked, dropping her hand from her gun. She watched as Hayate jumped at the man in front of her, nearly knocking him over. He'd managed to change before coming over, meaning that he was either behind on work and gave up or he had somehow managed to keep up on his work. She suspected the latter.

"Well I was in the neighborhood and decided to stop by, we barely got to talk this morning." He said, his tone telling her that something was on his mind. Riza nodded, stepping aside to let him enter her apartment. Roy took his jacket off, hanging it by the door as she checked to make sure no one had been watching them before shutting it.

The pair went and sat down on her small couch, the blonde immediately turning to look at him. She took in his appearance, he looked more tired than she had ever seen him. His hair was messier than normal and his posture was in even worse condition than his hair. What really tipped her off was how stiff he seemed, the colonel was never that rigid when it was only the two of them. She didn't need to ask him what was wrong though, she knew. When the team had been reassigned she hadn't realized the toll it would take on her superior officer.

"How are you?" He asked suddenly, breaking her from her daze.

"I'm fine sir." She told him, not quite making eye contact. That was one thing she always had trouble doing; lying to his face. She saw him frown, giving her a skeptical look, but he clearly decided to brush it off.

"So," he said, quickly changing the subject, "have you heard from any of the others lately?" When Riza looked at him, any hope he might have had immediately disappeared. "Nevermind." He muttered, looking away. Riza frowned at the colonel, it was rare he seemed this hopeless. She hated seeing him like this.

She could still picture the young boy who had come to study under her father. He always seemed happy, even when her father was reluctant to share his secrets. He was so friendly and full of life back then. As much as she loved her job she couldn't help but blame the military for the liveliness that had been taken from the boy she'd gotten to know so well as a child. What she wouldn't give to see him be even as calm as he once was. Now as she looked at him all she saw was a broken man. His dark eyes, once full of excitement, now seemed dull. It wasn't until she heard her name that she realized she'd been silent for some time now.

"Riza?" came the colonel's voice, quiet and full of concern. She was first aware of the fact that his hand was on her shoulder. He had moved closer to her and had clearly been trying to grab her attention for some time now. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked her again, speaking in a soft tone she hadn't heard in a while.

She nodded quickly, "Of course colonel, I was just thinking." He sighed, seeming to relax a bit. "Was there anything in particular you needed sir?" Riza asked softly, still not quite sure why he had showed up.

"I was just thinking today, you mentioned the flower. It reminded me of old times. I realized that we really haven't had a chance to talk since the transfer." He explained. He paused for a moment, as if debating to say anymore. "Besides, I miss you."

Riza wasn't particularly surprised by the sudden declaration, he'd said things like that often when he was drunk and those thoughts had to come from somewhere. "Have you been drinking sir?" She asked, giving him the chance to cover his words as he almost always did. She was slightly taken back when he shook his head.

"You'd know if I had been drinking Riza." He said quietly, "I was being serious. I miss the entire team but you not being around is something I'm not accustomed to at all. I've always had you there to watch my back and suddenly you've been taken. Bradley knew what he was doing, he took you and he's holding you captive."

The lieutenant didn't know how to react for a moment, she hadn't seen him ramble like this for years and she wasn't sure how to handle it. "Sir I'm fine. He hasn't done much to me." She said seriously.

"Why are you always so damn formal, even when we're alone?" He snapped suddenly, causing her to jump. It was rare that he raised his voice to anyone, especially her.

"I'm sorry s-Roy." She said, correcting herself. He was slowly cracking and she didn't need to encourage it any.

"Thank you." He mumbled, moving away from her. It was clear on his face that he felt guilty for startling Riza like that and she knew he would be. "I've been having them again." He said suddenly, breaking the awkward silence that had begun to envelope the space.

"I'm sorry. I know how bad those used to be. I thought you had finally moved on." She said quietly, resting her hand on his wrist gently. She started to pull away when he looked at her, assuming she had done something wrong, only to have him pull her hand back. He loosened his grip on her hand but kept a hold of it anyways to test and see if she would pull away. When she didn't he sighed quietly, the noise barely audible.

"It's getting late, have you eaten?" She asked, deciding to move the conversation in a more pleasant direction. She rolled her eyes when he shook his head in response. "Well come on then, I just went shopping. I'll make us something to eat." She muttered, reluctantly pulling her hand from his and standing up. She didn't need to look behind herself to know he'd follow her.


End file.
